ATLANTA Arby's Restaurant Group Inc. has acquired 41 franchised restaurants in California from San Diego-based Cambridge Investments LLC and its affiliates for an undisclosed price, boosting the franchisor’s ownership to 1,148 of the sandwich chain’s 3,600 branches and 42 of its 133 California locations.
The acquired Arby's are in the Los Angeles, San Diego, Bakersfield and Fresno markets.
"We believe California affords attractive growth opportunities and this acquisition allows us to significantly expand our footprint of company-owned stores within the state," said Tom Garrett, president and chief operating office of Arby's, in a statement. "We are confident in the future growth of the Arby's brand and will continue to look for opportunities to grow our company-owned portfolio in addition to the new units being opened by our franchisees."
The Atlanta-based franchisor also said it had exceeded its development goal for 2007 with the opening of 148 Arby's branches and the signing of commitments for an additional 197 throughout the United States and Canada. Garrett said that Arby's is well on its way to meeting its long-term goal of 5,000 restaurants in North America.